The Bronte centre really lies in the heart of Liverpool, tucked away behind the new Liverpool John Moores campus, a short walk from Lime Street station next to the famous Bullring. It started in the 1960s as a boxing club and grew to be a hub for local youth and the community. Sallyann had met David at the Everton Park Gardens Summer auction, he had been the auctioneer and they chatted about what Goodgym does and what the Bronte do and how Goodgym could help the Bronte with a Monday evening task. So this was our first time at this venue. It was our biggest turnout of the year with fourteen in attendance. Six Goodgymmers; Sallyann, Heetu, Dike, Laura, Max and Aatefa ran from the suitcases on Hope Street, others walked and we met David who showed us what needed to be done. We had some stones to shift, some brambles to uproot and a front garden to tidy. We set off in three groups:

Group 1, the brambles: Miriam, Heetu, Tsi Tsi and Leo were in the bramble attack team. Tsi Tsi and Miriam had both bought bramble proof gloves along with them so they were keen to get stuck in. At one point we had an enormous turnip situation where we all pulled on the stubborn bramble until it gave way, honestly it was the biggest bramble we had ever seen with a trunk like a small tree.

Group 2, the rocks: Meanwhile Ellie, Steph, Laura and Sophie got stuck into clearing the rocks and bricks to make the outdoor space more usable. As the shortest member of the team, Laura volunteered to climb into the storage cage, whilst the others got to work doing the heavy lifting. What started off as a neatly stacked and layered pile, utilising advanced Tetris skills, soon became a precariously balanced mound of rubble! Either way, by the end of the hour 90% of the material had been successfully transported to its new home, leaving the lawn corner much clearer and ready to be put to better use.

Group 3, the front: Liam, Max, Dika, Sallyann, Bekah and Aatefa were assigned the important mission of clearing the front garden and entrance area of the youth centre. The front area had clearly been enjoying a little too much autumn decoration! Fallen leaves had covered the grass and hidden some of the beautiful plants, while litter had also decided to make itself at home. Armed with rakes, brushes and plenty of determination, they got straight to work. They raked away the thick layers of leaves, collected the scattered litter and carefully cleared the areas around the plants. Little by little, the greenery started making an appearance again. The plants were finally free from their leafy blankets and could enjoy a little sunshine! They continued by gathering the collected leaves and rubbish, brushing the pathways and tidying the surrounding areas. By the time they had finished, the entrance looked considerably cleaner, brighter and much more welcoming. It was lovely to see how much difference six pairs of hands could make in such a short time. The leaves may have put up a good fight, but the GoodGymers certainly won this round!

Afterwards David seemed impressed and booked in a return visit with Sallyann. They very kindly made us drinks and we congregated for a short while in the seating area at the centre where we said congratulations to Sal on her 200th mission…

Sallyann joined in June 2019 so has been a part of Goodgym for 7 years. She's undertaken sessions in 3 areas, is a member of Taskforce, and a trained Run Leader.

What the 200 tasks doesn't show is all the work and effort she does behind the scenes: the tasks organised, the time spent with task owners, helping others, supporting member's running journeys, arranging socials, being a welcome committee for GG tourists, welcoming new people, ensuring everyone feels comfortable and included, encouraging people to engage further with both GG and their running, organisation of admin, and, of course, she's the architect of the phenomenon that is Sticker Saturday.

So a massive well done on your 200th task, and thank you Sallyann for everything you do for Goodgym and the people in it.

After completing our task, Heetu, Ellie, Leo, Laura and Aatefa set off on their run back to Suitcases. With another community task completed, a little exercise under our belts and plenty of smiles, we brought a beautiful GoodGym session to a close. What a lovely way to combine running, teamwork and giving something back to the community!

This report was a collaborative effort by Miriam, Laura, Aatefa and Bekah

A surprisingly mild evening led 9 Goodgymmers to the Greenhouse Project, a multicultural play and arts project on Lodge Lane in Liverpool. Sophie & Aatefa ran and beat everyone else to the task, arriving first, whilst most of us took a more leisurely approach and walked to the task. We were pleased to welcome Michelle back who returned for her second task - great to see you again Michelle! And our Goodgymmer of honour, Jo, quite rightly arrived on a chariot – well, a bike – and we headed inside for our task briefing, introductions and announcements.

And what an announcement we had! This evening marked a phenomenal achievement from Jo – it was her 200th task! Jo joined Goodgym in 2018 so has been a dedicated member for over 8 fantastic years. And it’s a family affair, both Jo’s daughter Roz and son Ben are members, and have done tasks together with Jo, Ben having joined the Ealing chapter too. And Goodgym is just one feather in Jo’s many-feathered-cap, she’s a devoted volunteer and dedicates time to other organisations including but not limited to Foodcycle, providing free community meals and reducing food waste. The team presented Jo with a card, some gifts to take home, and some chocolate pastries to share at the end of the task in her honour.

After our congratulations it was time to dive in. This time our task was split in 2: covering the fence with tarp to provide some much needed privacy to the children’s garden, and adding leaves back on to the plastic bushes which decorate the yard. Sophie gave some great ideas on technique for covering the fence before heading over with the team to the bushes, and Naser, Jo and I worked on the fence. Once we’d established approach, which involved weaving the tarp at intervals to help keep it in place, and attaching from the top at regular intervals, it was steady work to cover the whole thing. Jo’s idea of how to weave ended up being exactly the right decision and soon the fence looked great, secure and private.

The leaf task sounds unusual (putting leaves back on a bush?!) and is surprisingly therapeutic. The little leaves on the plastic bush can fall off, so our job was to reattach them so it continues to look nice and full and doesn’t have empty patches. With 6 pairs of hands working methodically, the bushes were soon returned to their former glory.

After admiring the result of our hard work, we headed inside for the group photo and the all important chocolate pastries to celebrate our Bicentenarian Jo. Much to our surprise we were then presented with a very kind card from the Greenhouse Project, thanking us for our hard work and support over the years. This was a lovely gesture and we were very touched to receive it. We had a quick debrief, with a busy Saturday coming up with Parkrun Sticker Saturday, followed by a lovely task at the Bombed out Church planting daffodil bulbs to prepare for a beautiful display in Spring. And it was time to head off back into the mild evening for home. A nice task where we could clearly see the impact we’ve made in such a short space of time, and a great opportunity to celebrate our lovely Jo and her dedication. Huge well done and congratulations Jo, what a huge number of hours doing good things for the community in Liverpool.

Chappell Roan might’ve sung about a pink pony club but she’s obviously never been to Park Palace Ponies on the Dingle where the residents are gorgeous and utterly strokeable. We were lucky enough to have this pleasure tonight in our very first task at this special place. It was a night of firsts as Aatefa did her first turn as run leader from the suitcases. She did this adeptly with runners old and new, assisted by experienced run leader Liam. It was a first for Linda who ran from suitcases, it was a first for goodgym tourist, Steph from Ealing who also ran and it was a first for Maryna who cycled. Aatefa, Liam, Linda, Steph, Laura and Sophie joined Myself, Nasser and Bekah outside the venue. Heetu and Maryna followed shortly after. Faye from Park Palace ponies gave us our instructions and directed us to the tools, past the ponies in their sheds who got royally fussed over. They were so beautiful and very friendly. Bekah organised this session and knows all the ponies by name, there were six in total, Malu, Jessie, Moses & Deejay were the ones I remember but I’ll have to namecheck with Bekah for all six. Our task was to level out the indoor riding arena. As Faye explained, usually this would be the job of a tractor but as this is a small city based charity there are no such options so it was down to us with rakes and forks to bring the sand from the sides and level out the area. The building used to be a theatre so has a very ornate ceiling and some of the original features are still visible but now it is a venue where children from the city can learn to ride and trot around this sandpit riding arena. There was some discussion over the difference between a horse and a pony; for clarification, a pony is a small horse but not a baby one. We finished slightly early but made that time up by going for a second fuss of the ponies, we had to get our group shot with a pony and Nasser has the skills to get that shot. Steph also thought of a great pun for the report; ‘Only Fools and Ponies’. And as the lyrics of that title song state - ‘why do only fools and horses work?’ Well in our case it’s because we love it! Can’t wait to go back and support this amazing charity again.

Once again, we were back helping thr lovely people at Friend's of Everton Park, this time in the community gardens.

After some Tromboccino picking (a fitting welcome gift for our two newbies Charlieand Michelle), we were split into two teams. With one team staying to uncover a stream and the other, to clear some saplings and brambles.

The stream team were tasked with removing some foliage and stones so that the leaky lining or the stream can be replaced. It was tough work, but very satisfying and we cant wait to see the stream flowing again.

Meanwhile, the other group made great progress clearing saplings and brambles from around the rather wonderful park sign. Excellent work!

Once everyone had returned to the community gardens, it was time to celebrate as Laura has no completed a whopping 200 goodgym tasks (no mean feat!?). It is incredible to think just how many people you have helped over the years. Huge congratulations!